[Movie] “Society of the Snow” Review: A Journey Through Survival and Hope

Some true stories are difficult to watch, and also difficult to forget too. And this particular movie that I watched are both on this categories. I watched Society of the Snow not quite long and all I can say is that, It’s a devastating, and deeply human film that doesn't just tell a survival story, it makes me feel every moment of it. The movie is all about how far we human beings can go when survival becomes our only option. It’s a 2023 Spanish survival drama and by directed by J. A. Bayona.

This film follows is a real-life tragedy of a plane carrying 45 passengers, and members of an Uruguayan rugby team was also part of the passengers. The plane crashes in the Andes mountains in 1972, leaving the survivors stranded in one of the harshest environments on Earth. I can feel that the place was so freezing, it’s an isolated environment, they only have little food that cannot sustain them for long and the sad thing is that, they don’t even have hope of being rescued. As days turn into weeks and weeks into months, they're forced to face the unimaginable decisions in order to survive.

I know that survival movies is not a new thing, this particular story has been told before, you can see it in the Alive film in 1993 starring Ethan Hawke, but I’ll say that Society of Snow goes far more deeper in the survival story. This is not just about what happened, this movie takes its time to show us the people behind the story, who these people were, their relationships, and the different ways they try to hold on to hope. And I’ll will say that’s one of the things I love about this movie.

Bayona did a great job by bringing the story to life. If you’ve watched The Impossible, you should probably have an idea of how well he handles stories that involves real-life disasters. But in this particular movie, he takes things even further. He makes the viewer feel the harshness of the environment and what they are going through and this makes their suffering and their resilience hit that much harder.

Visually, this film is breathtaking. The cinematography transformed the Andes into a vast, barren, almost otherworldly landscape. It’s looks both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. It feels less like a mountain range and more like an endless frozen desert.You know, even though the landscape is beautiful, it’s completely unforgiving. You feel the isolation, the silence, the emptiness, like It's really haunting.

Their performances are outstanding. Enzo Vogrincic who play Numa Turcatti was outstanding, but this movie really is truly an ensemble piece. Everyone feels real, grounded, and fully immersed into the situation. The characters feel like they are not just like actors playing survivors in a disaster movie. You know it’s a kind of situation where you become interested in what happens to them.

What about the difficult moments? in this film, there are moments that really stay with me. The plane crash itself is shocking and brilliantly executed. if you have seen a plane crash in any older movie. It wasn't shown as terrifyingly in those as it is seen in this one. It’s only a 10-15 second scene, but just within that, my heart was shaken, like, what just suddenly happened to these people? But it's the avalanche sequence that really shakes me the most. That's when the reality of their situation becomes unbearable. It makes me to realize how quickly things can become worse for people who are already struggling to survive.

Yeah, one of the most uncomfortable parts of this story was the decision the survivors have to make concerning food. I won’t go into too much detail about what they did, because I don’t want to spoil the experience for anyone who has not watch this movie. But this film handles this part with a lot of seriousness. It doesn’t turn their desperation into something sensational. But Instead, it makes me think about what survival really means when there no any other option.

The ending part also got me, watching the survivors finally getting back to their families was emotional, especially after everything they have experienced to get home. Although this film does not pretend that being rescued fixes everything . These people have lost their friends, they have experienced trauma and they returned home with all these memories in their head. I believe that cannot just go away like that.

Did I have any critics on the movie? Well, while watching, I was completely immersed in the film. Like I was lost In its world and everything felt like I was right there with them. So I couldn't really find any negatives or positives in this movie. I mean I was not looking out for what was good or what they could have done better . It was simply a very good and a very thrilling experience for me.

All in all, Society of the Snow is a remarkable survival drama that goes far beyond my expectations. I loved the cinematography, the performances and, most importantly, I love the way the story explored human connection, the sacrifice made and the will to survive. It’s an heartbreaking movie, and can be somehow difficult to watch , it’s certainly not a movie for anyone that is not comfortable with graphic scenes that involves injuries and cannibalism.

So, will I recommend this movie ? Absolutely, I will, I think anyone who love survival movies based on real events should give Society of the Snow a watch. So have have watched this movie before? And what are your thought or views about it?

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^{Images were sourced from IMDb.}

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Rating: 95/100

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Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.